English 2034 America & Gatsby“RestlessOptimism”

“Westward Ho!”• “Manifest destiny”• Expansion and Indian relations• Community vs. individualism

The “Loner” in Cowboy Legend

20th Century Expansionism

• The Melting Pot• Identity?

Rural to Urban Life Video: San Francisco at 1905

The American Dream

• Rags to riches!• Anyone can do it… or can they?

Clothing & Attire at 1900• Post-Victorian “respectability” in dress

We’re still the same people

Flappers • Loosening of sexual rules and traditions• Popular culture in films, radio, and music

The Jazz Age (1920s)

• Postwar optimism• Cars, freedom, and illegal booze

F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald 1896-1940

• Writer of four novels and several short stories, including “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

• Had a middle-class Catholic upbringing in Minnesota

• Lived an extravagant life in Paris and befriended Hemingway

• Stormy marriage to “Zelda,” money problems, and alcoholism

• Unsuccessful Hollywood screenwriting later in life